Swindon, Bath and Royal Wootton Bassett residents pay the price for fly-tipping in Wiltshire

A Swindon resident, two Royal Wootton Bassett residents and a resident from Bath have been issued a total of £2,800 in fixed penalty notices (FPN) for fly-tipping offences.

The Swindon resident was issued a £1,000 FPN after admitting to depositing waste on Breach Lane, Royal Wootton Bassett. His vehicle was captured tipping waste by the council as part of its proactive work to catch fly-tipping offenders.

A couple from Royal Wootton Bassett have both been issued with £600 FPNs after using an unlicenced waste carrier to remove waste from their property on two separate occasions. The waste was found fly-tipped in a layby off Swindon Road in the town.

Elsewhere in the county, a Bath resident was also issued with a £600 FPN after their waste was found fly-tipped in Longleat Forest, near Warminster.

In both of these cases, the residents could not provide any information that could have traced the people responsible for fly-tipping the waste. They each failed in their duty of care by not obtaining vital information on who took their waste - such as a receipt, a waste carriers licence number and a description of their vehicle - as is required when they hand their waste to someone.

Nick Holder, Cabinet Member for Highways, Street Scene and Flooding, said: As these four fixed penalty notices show, we are committed to tackling environmental crime and we have a range of methods to catch fly-tippers in the act, including using covert and overt cameras.

Incidents like this serve as a timely reminder to anyone who is considering using a waste clearance service - always check they have a valid upper-tier waste carrier licence, note their vehicle registration and details, and get a receipt. If you fail to do this and they dump the waste, you could be investigated and ultimately fined.

Our Stop at Source (SAS) campaign focuses on this very topic and reminds everyone to avoid rogue traders or those who may advertise cheap waste removal on social media, only for it to be fly-tipped in the Wiltshire countryside.

Our message is clear - We're Targeting Fly-tippers in Wiltshire and we will take action against anyone who dumps waste in our beautiful county.

To find out more about fly-tipping and how to report it, people should go to Fly-tipping